


Shattered Forces

by TatooineTourist



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Force Bond (Star Wars), Original Character(s), Star Wars Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 00:09:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13329339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TatooineTourist/pseuds/TatooineTourist
Summary: This picks up where Episode VIII left off- the Millenium Falcon is invited by an old friend of Han's to dock at a smuggler's base on the planet Yarva while Kylo Ren is in hot pursuit with First Order forces.





	1. Distress Signals- Rey

**Author's Note:**

> Reylo comin at ya! This is my first work of fanfiction, though I've written full length original novels in the past in other genres. I'm trying something very new with my writing and going into this with a really barebones vision of the action, but a clear sense of the romantic arc between Rey and Ben. I'll update and add chapters as I finish them- thanks for reading!

**CHAPTER ONE**

**Rey**

 

**_If I go to him, Ben Solo will turn.”_ **

**The words played over in Rey’s mind on a loop. How could she have been so wrong? How could she have deluded herself? She knew the answer but couldn’t face it. Couldn’t face the truth that the same foolish hope that had flamed to life within her after those soul shattering connections with Ben, making her believe the impossible- it was still there, smoldering in the ashes.**

**They’d been floating out there in space for days now, sending out a coded distress signal in hopes of connecting with what remnants still existed of the once formidable Resistance. In the meantime, Rey had struggled to find her place amongst them once more, but it felt wrong.**

**All of it felt so very wrong. It wasn’t supposed to go this way. With every molecule of her being, she had _known_ that Ben would return to the light. And then he hadn’t. And then Luke had passed along with so many countless others. **

**What was left of the Resistance was as broken as the star destroyer on Jakku that she used to scavenge from and Rey felt responsible for it. She was supposed to reach Ben, to awaken the good in him that had long lain dormant, and she hadn’t- at least not enough to stop all of this destruction. There was still something in him, she knew, a struggle, but she couldn’t end it. She wasn’t enough.**

**That was what had stung the most. She had no right to think she would be. What he said was true- she came from nothing. Why had she thought she could end the war?**

**_“You’re nothing… but not to me.”_ **

**Because he said things like that and it made her feel powerful, like the connection between them was more than between their minds, but between their very life forces. Somehow, and she didn’t buy that it was just Snoke, their very essences had gotten tangled up.**

**“ _Yurrrrg!”_ Chewbacca came up from behind her where she was squatted in the engineering room, poking uselessly at a component on the fuel drive pressure stabilizer.  **

**Rey rubbed at her eyes. “Hey, that’s a little rude, don’t you think? I don’t look like Porg that got caught in the thrusters.”**

**“ _Yuuurrrrrrgggg.”_ A big furry paw landed on her shoulder and his eyes softened with his tone as he lowered beside her.**

**“You’re right, I know I need to rest. Do me a favor? See if you can get this reconnected? I’ve been working on it for the last hour, trying to lower the pressure balance.”**

**The wookie howled his assent and she took his advice, heading to the crew quarters and hoping not to run into anyone in the meantime. She wasn’t fit company in this state. She needed to recalibrate her mind just as much as the fuel drive.**

**When she flopped onto the not-so-soft cot, though, sleep didn’t come and swallow her up like she hoped it would. Her body was sore, depleted, and in desperate need of recharging, but her mind was too active.**

**The room was lit by a faint blue glow and she closed her eyes hard against it, seeking the dark comfort of unconsciousness. Like all those nights on Jakku when the images of the Ahch-To had plagued her, she was haunted. But it wasn’t visions of an ocean, of that desolate little island and the secrets it held that pursued her. It was _him._**

**The pain and the anguish in him that she’d seen, _felt_ as if they were own, because in that instant they were, as she closed the door of the Millennium Falcon coursed through her. There was anger too, there was always anger with Ben, but it came after. First, and foremost, there was the hurt- the hurt that she caused by turning away from him. **

**It was the right decision- she knew it. She’d chosen the light. It hadn’t even been a question, she could never give in to darkness. And yet, she wondered.**

**The force wasn’t one or the other, right? Luke had said it was both, a balance, an ethereal harmony of sorts that connected everything. And in that ambiguous sea of grey,  they’d somehow found each other.**

**It didn’t matter if Snoke had pointed them in the right direction, what mattered was that she’d seen _him-_ Ben, beneath all the layers, beneath all the rage and violence. And, he’d seen her. In those fleeting moments, they’d been in harmony and the memory of that undid her. What if… what if she surrendered to it?**

**The moment Ben had ended Snoke had felt transcendant. Her vision had proven true, he had cast aside his dark master!**

**When they fought together, it felt as if they moved as one, as if their energy combined and expanded. In her mind, she saw him holding his hand out to her, felt again the terror over how badly she had wanted to take it.**

**Not to join the darkness, just to be with him. But he’d hurt her, he’d used what they had together to try and pull her from the light. And yet… wasn’t that what she had meant to do to him?**

**What he said, about starting something new… not being alone. She’d wanted it so desperately, so achingly, she wasn’t sure how she resisted.**

**“ _Please_.”**

**He’d extended his large gloved hand to her, offered her a future there in the red glow of Snoke’s throne room. And, there, in the privacy of her own mind, she imagined she’d taken it.**

**Would he have kissed her? Her heart raced at the thought and her lips prickled with sensation. She could feel the hard wall of his tall form against her, the heat that emanated from him, from them both. It would have been a combustion that consumed them both and she yearned for it, even knowing how wrong it was. She yearned to feel her hand in his, his arms wrapped around her, his warm, demanding mouth pressed against hers.**

**The sensations, the images came easily- too easily.**

**He was with her. She opened her eyes- he wasn’t there looking back at her with those doleful dark eyes. But she felt him, his energy, his breath on her neck, the rage, the ache, and the desire- like an electrical current that raced through her. Her body stirred with the longing to give in to her own feelings, to let the darkness take her… to him.**

**“I’ll find you,” she heard his voice, so deep and rich in her mind.**

**It wasn’t exactly a threat and it wasn’t quite a promise, just as it wasn’t fully Ben and it wasn’t fully Kylo. What scared her most was that she didn’t know which one she wanted more.**

**Did she wish to face her enemy and extinguish the dark? Or did she want to save him- the man who seemed to hold the other half of her soul.**

**In an instant, Rey knew she only needed to reach out into the void between them and guide him to her.**

**And then she remembered that it wasn’t just her that he would lay his hands on, it was the last shreds of the Resistance.**

**She sat up abruptly and severed the connection, feeling the sharp pain of the blunt separation as keenly as if she’d been hit in the gut.**

**Forget rest, that was too dangerous when her feelings were so out of control. She needed to move, to distract herself.**

**Her feet carried her to the cockpit but as she entered, she saw General Organa and froze. With a hand on the pilot’s seat, the General’s wizened features were contorted in exactly the sort of longing pain that Rey herself battled against.**

**Beyond, she could see the vast black depths of space. So much darkness, freckled only by tiny specks of light. Like Ben, in a way. How could she ever hope to condense those tiny spots of light enough to outshine the dark?**

**“Beautiful, isn’t it?” General Organa looked straight ahead into the empty space as well, surprising Rey. But then, Rey should have known better. This was Ben’s mother, of course she would sense her presence.**

**“It’s beautiful, yes, but dark and overwhelming too.” Rey answered, walking forward to stand beside Leia. She still wasn’t used to space travel.**

**All those years stranded in the cracking, dry heat of the Jakku wastelands, she’d been alone, but never felt so dwarfed, so insignificant. Out here, in space, the sheer magnitude of it all startled her.**

**“True of a lot of things, wouldn’t you say?” Leia’s eyes were on her face, and her gaze was too perceptive for Rey’s comfort.**

**“Some things…” Rey looked back at the windows and hoped the General was just speaking broadly.**

**“Funny that you can be here beside me, but you’re a million miles away in there,” Leia said, gesturing to Rey’s temple. “What did my son say to you?”**

**It was a loaded question… could Rey confide in her? After everything her son had done to hurt her, to hurt them all.**

**“He… reminded me who my parents really were and why they left me on Jakku. They were never coming back for me- they sold me and left me to my fate. I… I’d blocked it out.” It wasn’t a lie, but it certainly wasn’t the entire truth. Fortunately, it _was_ enough to appease Leia’s curiosity.**

**“I didn’t meet my mother, not my _real_ mother. My father… well, you know the story.” Leia smiled sadly. “Your family is who and what you make of it. Some of us,” she looked sorrowfully towards Han’s empty former seat, “some of us do a better job of making that work than others. I tried my best, but I failed when it came to holding mine together. It’s all we can do, though- try and hope.”**

**Rey wanted to ask more, longed to know about Ben beyond the glimpses he’d shown her. She wondered what his mother had to say about his turn toward the darkness. Before she could ask, however, Lieutenant Connix came into the cockpit.**

**“Excuse me, General Organa, we have received a message from Nulan Guin. We’ve been invited to dock at his base on Yarva. Permission to enter Yarva airspace?” Lieutenant Connix stood rigidly straight.**

**“Permission granted. Been a long time since I’ve had to make nice with one of Han’s smuggler buddies, but if he’s willing to house us, I’ll bite the bullet.” She turned to Rey then. “He’s a spice smugler, does runs between Kessel and a couple of republic trading posts.”**

**“Forgive me, General, but can we trust him?” Rey asked skeptically.**

**Leia grinned, “Nulan Guin is as rotten as they come, but he’s like my husband- doesn’t like paying taxes to anyone. He’s always been a friend of the Resistance so long as we’re still out to loosen the stranglehold of the First Order. Besides, we’re low on fuel and supplies- both of which he’ll have for the right price. We need to regroup and connect with what remains of the fleet in the outer rim.”**

**With that, they set a course for Yarva, taking Rey further and further from Ben- a fact she should have been grateful for… should have, but wasn’t.**

 

 

 


	2. Weakness- Kylo Ren

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First Order intercepts communication from the Millennium Falcon. Kylo makes a demonstration on the bridge and gets moody and broody in his room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please bear with me as I figure out how to format/add chapters.

**CHAPTER TWO**

**Kylo Ren**

**“ _I need someone to show me my place in all this.”_**

**Her place was with him as his was with her.**

**Kylo stood on the bridge of the Supremacy, looking out into the plunging black depths of space. It had never felt so big as it did right now, knowing that Rey was out there somewhere… without him.**

**He’d sent her a message- a promise. He was coming for her.**

**It was probably unnecessary, she must know he wouldn’t let her go now. Not after the connection they’d experienced, the future he’d seen. She’d seen the shape of it, perhaps, but he’d more than seen it, he’d felt it. He’d felt her energy with him- together and in harmony.**

**He would have that future, no matter the cost. If he had to burn down every village in the galaxy to find her, then burn they would.**

**His gloved fist tightened and he resisted the urge to grab his lightsaber and destroy something. She thought he’d return to the light, but how could he? Destruction was in his blood, as natural to him as breathing.**

**Ordinarily, he would have choked someone or broken something by now, but he’d already lost control in the strategy room in the rebel base on Crait and he’d seen the way General Hux and his men had looked at him.**

**Just like Rey had… like a monster. Not that he cared what those weasly little men with no power of their own thought of him. What claims of strength did they have beyond the sheer volume of them?**

**They were nothing to him, nothing but a horde of faceless blasters, but they were what he had and if he ever hoped to track Rey down again, he needed them. Besides, after the humiliating bout with Luke, he couldn’t afford to lose anymore face. As he fought to reign in the anger that surged through him ever since Rey had closed that door on him, the air crackled with the dark energy of the force that radiated off of him.**

**General Hux must have felt it. He was bent over, back to Kylo, reviewing a navigation screen. The man turned sharply in his direction and after smothering an initial reaction of disgust, he approached. Hux’s polished boots clicked on the metal floor as he crossed the room.**

**“Supreme Leader,” he said with a barely concealed sneer. “My men have received word that a communication beacon with the Millennium Falcon’s signature was intercepted by a contact on Kessel. I’ve sent a few of our speeders ahead.”**

**He resisted the urge to sag in relief at the news. “Good. I want every contact we have in the system on the lookout. They’d better not escape again, General Hux.”**

**The General seemed to take note of the menace in his voice. “Yes, of course. We’ll track the rebel scum and crush them. That is… if you think you can manage not to intervene again and sabotage our operation.”**

**Hux’s expression was mocking and it was a step too far. If Kylo was to rule the First Order, he needed abject obedience. A demonstration was in order.**

**With a flick of his wrist, he sent the impeccably groomed man slamming hard against a bank of computers. With minimal effort, Kylo coaxed the damaged circuitry into a wild display of sparks and shocks, brilliant streaks of electricity lighting the room. The bridge went silent as all watched on, witnessing the General’s humiliation and agony, while the sickening music of his screams encircled them.**

**Finally, when he sensed the man was on the verge of consciousness, Kylo let him drop to the floor. Electrical burns marred his face and the smell of scorched fabric and hair filled the room.**

**“Don’t question me again, General.”**

**Hux couldn’t respond and that was fine. Kylo waved two guards over to assist their general and turned to Hux’s next in command on the bridge.**

**“Captain Canady, set a course for the Kessel System. Inform me when our speeders reach the contact and when we’re in approach.”**

**“Yes, Supreme Leader.” The man bowed and slunk away from him.**

**Fear.**

**It was a weakness that Kylo could not allow in himself, but one that would serve him well in his soldiers.**

**He marched off the bridge then and to his own private chambers. They were large and mostly empty, but for the sleek polished metal walls, the room gave one the sense that you might be in the bowels of the ship.**

**His muscles were aching, he needed to rest, but every time he reached inside and sought darkness, he found light. _Her_ light.**

**A guttural sound breached his lips. It was something between a battle cry and a lover’s plea. This duality between them… it was infuriating and it made it impossible for him to feel any sense of resolution. He had promised his uncle he would destroy her, but he wasn’t sure he could and his uncle had known it.**

**What would he do when he got her again? And he _would_ get her… of that he had no question. He’d seen it when they’d touched through their force connection. He’d seen her beside him, they would restore order together. As sure as his saber had struck his true enemy in Snoke’s chambers, they would join forces. **

**The question was, how would he convince her? The thought tantalized and terrified him, because he knew how desperately he needed to convince her, to make her turn to the darkness with him.**

**There was no place for him left in the light. The boy that he had been… maybe she was right that he was still in there somewhere but he’d lost him in the vasr darkness and he had no interest in seeking him out. What was the point? Ben was weak, pathetic, needy.**

**There was no going back to that. Kylo was looking to the future, the one he would share with Rey.**

**_Rey_ ** **.**

**The thought of her, of how close he’d been, her fingers mere inches from his when she’d turned against him, it sent chills of awareness through him.**

**The tears that had stained her face though… the hurt in her eyes that echoed his own, it softened some of the ragged edges of his anger. Why couldn’t she let go? What was she holding on to so desperately that made her turn from him?**

**He looked out the panel window in his chamber, wondering if she was still thinking of him. When he’d reached out with his mind, the effort of it overwhelming him, he’d felt her, for just a flicker of a moment. Her body and its intoxicating mixture of soft and strong… it had brought thoughts, desires into the open. He’d been hesitant to admit it, but he could no longer deny, he was as much drawn by her power as this primal craving, this need to feel her, to touch her everywhere.**

**Snoke had called it his weakness. Maybe he was right, because when those images had flashed between them… were they hers, were they his? Or was it both of them in sync, their energies and minds mixing into a shared conscious? Whatever they were, they wouldn’t get out of his mind.**

**In the privacy of his own chambers, away from the eyes of the men who needed to see him as collected, stable, he unleashed the pent-up frustrations that were drowning him, thrashing what little furniture there was.**

**His energy spent, he collapsed. “I will find you,” he spoke his promise aloud once more to the emptiness around him.**

 

 

**  
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End file.
